


hold onto me (i'm a little unsteady)

by skywalking-across-the-galaxy (BadWolfGirl01)



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Cross-Posted on Tumblr, Hopeful Ending, M/M, Post-Order 66, Prompt Fill, Reunions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-14
Updated: 2019-04-14
Packaged: 2020-01-13 08:36:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18465349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BadWolfGirl01/pseuds/skywalking-across-the-galaxy
Summary: a year after Order Sixty-Six, Cody and Obi-Wan meet again.(prompt fic for @piepeloe on tumblr, "none of this is your fault")





	hold onto me (i'm a little unsteady)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [piepeloe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/piepeloe/gifts).



> title is from "unsteady" by x-ambassadors
> 
> thank you for the wonderful prompt, piepeloe!!

It’s been a little over a year since the day his life shattered.

Since the day the war ended, the day he thought, for just a moment, that maybe- Maybe there could be a future outside the endless fighting and the loss and the pain, that maybe he could take the chance he’d always held himself somewhat back from. Grievous was dead, Dooku dead, and the look on- on Cody’s face as he handed Obi-Wan his lightsaber back was something warm and fond and tender, and he’d thought-

Well. He supposes it doesn’t matter what he’d thought, anymore, now does it?

Life on Tatooine is quiet, a far cry from the peace of the Temple before the war, or the frenetic pace of the Clone War, dashing back and forth across the galaxy. Too quiet, sometimes; all he has for company are his ghosts, most days, or Owen and Beru, on the rare times they let him see Luke or he needs help with his vaporators. From Anakin to Qui-Gon, the memories are all there, taunting him every time he closes his eyes.

_ Train him. _

_ I hate you! _

_ There is still good left in him… _

And of course, the worst one, in some ways: starting up the cliffside of the Pau City sinkhole, feeling a  _ shout _ of warning in the Force, and then the cannons firing - feeling the way his men’s Force signatures suddenly  _ warped, _ twisted into something unfamiliar and heavy and  _ wrong, wrong, wrong, _ and then falling, and then-

In any case, he almost wishes for  _ something _ to keep him occupied, to keep his mind off the still-aching emptiness of the Force and the way he still sometimes glances over his shoulder to say something to Anakin, or Cody - that’s the primary reason he’d started investigating Jabba’s movements and going after his supply shipments. Part of it, of course, had been he could never let himself sit idly by and let the slavery and the stealing and the corruption go on, but if he’s honest with himself - which he’s never been too good at, he supposes - he’d needed the distraction from everything and everyone he’d failed.

Ahsoka contacts him, occasionally - he knows she’s working with Bail to form a rebellion. She’s been trying to get him to join, but he can’t leave Luke alone. Besides, Ahsoka is a strong young woman; he has faith in her abilities.

The comms can be frustrating, though, especially on a day like today, when the endless sands and the burning suns seem to have sucked the life out of him - he doesn’t have the energy to argue with her again.

_ “Obi-Wan,” _ Ahsoka says, when he answers the comm.

He sighs, rubs at his forehead. “Ahsoka, I’m not in the mood,” he says, before she can get anything else out.

_ “This isn’t about rebelling,” _ she says.  _ “I’ve… found something of yours, I’m bringing it to Tatooine.” _

He chuckles, though it feels not-quite-forced. “What, did you land on one of the multiple planets I left a cloak behind on? That’s hardly important enough to warrant the trip.”

_ “Something like that,” _ Ahsoka says, evasive.

He knows her well enough to know she’s hiding something; today, he’s too tired to probe. “Alright, then,” he says. “I’ll be here. Please don’t let the Empire know.”

_ “Trust me, Obi-Wan, I’m better than that,” _ she says.

He doesn’t tell her that’s what Anakin always said, right before getting them into some terrible mess. The wound is still too fresh, and in any case, she’d know that.

The comm cuts off and he sighs, rubs at his temples. What in the galaxy could she have found that’d warrant a visit all the way to this wretched hellhole?

If it really  _ is _ one of his cloaks, he’ll-

Oh, what’s the point anymore?

He almost doesn’t bother to clean up the hut, although he manages to sweep out some of the sand (it’s impossible to keep it out, he’s tried everything) and organize the small stack of holonovels and the two precious holocrons he’d managed to save from the Archives. It helps keep him busy, anyway, and after a while he goes out to check on the vaporators, and he waits.

He’s been doing nothing  _ but _ waiting, it seems like, these days.

Ahsoka’s ship lands on a dune nearby his hut, late evening, as the twin suns are slowly sinking into the western sky, turning everything blood red and warm gold and streaked with violet; Obi-Wan steps through his door and paces a couple meters from the hut, squints a bit against the setting suns.

There’s three figures walking towards him, silhouetted against the sky. Ahsoka is one of them, her montrals are distinctive, and he thinks the two others are clones - one’s likely Rex, the other another  _ vod _ they must’ve gotten out. Good, that’s good, although it means he should’ve put more effort into seeming… normal.

As though there’s anything  _ normal _ about this, a Jedi Master living in hiding on one of the least-liked planets in the galaxy, an absolute  _ hive _ of scum and villainy, trying to evade his own men and his own padawan.

One of the two clone-figures freezes in place on top of the nearest dune, and Obi-Wan frowns, narrows his eyes, notes the other (who must be Rex - it’s not like Rex would be surprised by Obi-Wan’s appearance) taking the first clone’s arm. He watches them a moment, then shakes himself, turns back to Ahsoka, who’s nearly to him, crosses the last of the distance himself and sighs. “Ahsoka, what’s this about me losing something?”

Ahsoka just smiles (damn it, but he’s fairly certain she picked that trick up from  _ him) _ and nods a bit back at the two figures making their slow way down the face of the dune, and in that moment, the light shifts and he’s finally able to make out their faces.

Thick dark hair, longer than he remembers, falling into amber eyes colored with apprehension and shame, a scar curling around his left eye.

_ Cody. _

Obi-Wan doesn’t entirely realize he’s moving until he stops in front of his Commander, who hasn’t moved a muscle since their eyes met, is not-quite-shaking, the last golden-red rays of sunlight melting over his face and setting him ablaze. “Cody,” he says, soft, too soft, lifts one hand to ever-so-lightly skim across Cody’s scar.

“Sir-” Cody’s voice is strangled, and he tilts his head into Obi-Wan’s hand, seemingly unable to hold still. “Sir, I didn’t mean- I’m  _ sorry,” _ and his voice cracks and shatters, tears welling up brightly-crystalline in his eyes.

“Oh, Cody,” Obi-Wan says, and pulls his Commander into a hug. Cody buries his face in Obi-Wan’s shoulder, and Obi tilts his head so he can tuck his nose into Cody’s hair, letting out a breath it seems like he’s been holding since his world came crashing down. “None of this is your fault, my dear.”

Even when he feels Cody’s shoulders shake beneath his arms, it still takes Obi-Wan a moment to realize his Commander is crying.

He’s only ever seen Cody cry once.

(It’s a long, somber hyperspace trip back to Coruscant from the mess that was Umbara; Scratch and half his medical team are on board the  _ Resolute, _ tending to saber wounds and exhausted troopers, leaving only a skeleton team in the medbay. At first, Obi-Wan thinks that’s where he’ll find Cody, checking in on their injured, but to his surprise the medbay is quiet, the lights dimmed to night-cycle brightness. Cody’s not in the barracks, either, which is where he  _ should _ be, sleeping off their latest battle - nor is he in the mess, where they meet late at night when nightmares get to be too much and neither of them can stand to be alone with their thoughts.

He finds his Commander standing at one of the massive bay windows facing out into space, staring at the blue glow of hyperspace, casting his features in an otherworldly light. He’s whispering, under his breath, lips barely moving, and although he can’t hear the words Obi-Wan thinks he knows what’s being said. 

_ “Ni su’cuyi, gar kyr’adyc,” _ Obi-Wan says, soft, stepping up beside Cody’s shoulder.  _ “Ni partayli, gar darasuum.” _

Cody twitches slightly at the Mando’a, turns his head to look at Obi-Wan, and only then does Obi-Wan see the tears on his cheeks.

“Waxer,” Obi-Wan says, and Cody nods.

He tugs his Commander into his arms and lets Cody cry on his shoulder, and after a while shifts him so they’re sitting, back against the wall, the blue of hyperspace turning everything blue, like his lightsaber, like grief, like the paint on all those broken bodies. Eventually Cody’s tears peter off and his Commander dozes off, head on Obi-Wan’s shoulder; he sits in the silence and watches Cody breathe and tries not to feel helpless.)

“It’s going to be alright, Cody,” Obi-Wan says, pulling himself to the present with an effort, and kisses the top of Cody’s head. “I’ve got you.”

Obi-Wan tilts his head to one side, just a bit, and Rex catches his eye, hands quickly sketching out a message in the old GAR sign language:  _ we’ll wait on the ship. _ He nods once in acknowledgement, tugs on Cody’s shoulder just a bit, says, quietly, “Why don’t we go inside? Rex and Ahsoka will join us in a bit.”

“Okay,” Cody says, raspy and hoarse, pulling back completely and shifting as though he intends to fall into parade rest.

That won’t do at all.

Obi-Wan tucks an arm around Cody’s shoulder, pulls his Commander against his side, and turns and starts for his hut. “Come on,  _ cyar’ika,” _ he says, lightly, the endearment slipping out almost without his notice. “We have a lot to talk about.”

Cody nods, hesitantly slips his own arm around Obi-Wan’s waist, and Obi-Wan smiles and hopes that for once, he won’t have to let go.


End file.
